High Praise for Debut Novel
Michiko Kakutani, who I sometimes think of as the Mikey (you know that chubby kid from those old cereal commercials who won’t eat anything) of the literary world. It’s tough to get compliments from this critic. But in a rave New York Times review today, Kakutani writes “Question: what do you get if you combine the TV series The Office and the Guy Ritchie movie Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels with a Nick Hornby novel and the Kingsley Amis classic, Lucky Jim? Answer: you get the Irish writer Nick Laird’s first novel, Utterly Monkey. Part caper movie, part coming-of-age story, part urban satire, Monkey introduces a writer with a wonderfully original and limber voice – a writer who seems able to jump genres as easily as he shifts narrative gears.”
That’s big time praise. This is probably one to add to the list for your next visit to the bookstore. Or, you can pick it up here:
